Advertising has long been analyzed as a pervasive disseminator of cultural values. In a detailed analysis of advertisements as promotional texts, Andrew Wernick shows how their impact on cultural formation has become increasingly fundamental with the spread of the market into every facet of social life. The resulting promotional culture has transformed the character of all forms of communication.

Moving beyond a simple critique of advertising as an ideological process, Promotional Culture relates its impact to the broad social processes analyzed under the label of postmodernism. Wernick traces the impact of promotion from the selling of consumer goods to the spheres of electoral politics and the university. In doing so, he poses fundamental questions not only about the shape of contemporary societies but also about the individual as an acting and communicating subject.